Zalando Beats Sales Forecasts and Launches AI Agent That Shops Other Retailers

Revenue rose 5.1% from a year earlier to €3.17 billion, above the €3.15 billion analysts polled by LSEG had forecast, Reuters reported. Gross merchandise value rose 7.5% to €4.54 billion. According to The Next Web, adjusted operating profit rose 10.6% to €106.5 million, and the group made a net loss of €18 million, compared with a profit of €12.5 million a year earlier.

Margins Under Pressure

The weak spot was profitability. The gross margin fell 0.9 percentage points to 38.7%, below market expectations, Reuters reported, citing analysts at Jefferies and JPMorgan. The Next Web said analysts had expected 39.9%.

Finance chief Anna Dimitrova told analysts the decline "was primarily driven by targeted investments in attractive offers for our customers," especially in sneakers, according to Reuters. She called the pressure temporary and said she expects the gross margin to be broadly flat for 2026.

Growth came mainly from Zalando's business-to-business arm, which provides logistics and software to other brands. The Next Web reported that the unit's revenue rose 27.9% to €354 million and its profit more than doubled, while consumer revenue grew 2.8%. German news agency dpa-AFX, in a report carried by MarketScreener, said strong B2B earnings more than made up for a fall in the consumer segment's adjusted operating profit. The company had a record 63.2 million active customers.

Zalando kept its full-year guidance for adjusted operating profit of €680 million to €720 million. According to dpa-AFX, it expects gross merchandise value and revenue growth in the lower half of its 12% to 17% range.

An Agent Inside the App

The new service is called Zalando Extended. It brings products from other online stores, including items Zalando does not sell itself, into the Zalando app. Reuters reported that Zalando plans to add AI-assisted checkout in 2027, so that its agent can complete purchases for customers without sending them to another website. Home furnishings retailer Westwing is the first pilot partner, starting with larger home goods.

According to dpa-AFX, Zalando says partner stores can reach its customers and earn new revenue without complex technical integration or changes to their logistics.

The launch comes as investors weigh what AI shopping agents will mean for online retailers. Agents built by AI companies could compare prices and buy on a shopper's behalf, which could weaken the direct customer relationships that platforms like Zalando depend on. JPMorgan analyst Georgina Johanan pointed to "structural risks from the development of AI-powered shopping agents, or agentic commerce," dpa-AFX reported. JPMorgan also warned that "the stock could drift lower in the coming days given the lack of any incremental positives," according to Reuters.

Accounts of the share price reaction differed. The Next Web reported that the shares fell about 5% despite the revenue beat. Reuters said the stock recovered after Dimitrova's comments and was up 0.5% by around 0945 GMT. Dpa-AFX described a sharp fall at the open followed by a gain of more than 2% later in the morning.

Why It Matters

Zalando's response to agentic commerce is to make its own app the place where an agent does the shopping, so that other retailers' goods are sold through its platform rather than around it. Whether customers and partners take it up will only become clear in 2027, when the checkout feature goes live. For now, the quarter shows a business that is growing through services to other brands while it pays for discounts to keep consumers spending.